Debbie Reynolds, the actress, pop star, and Hollywood icon who starred in Singin’ in the Rain and The Unsinkable Molly Brown, died on Wednesday. She was 84.
Reynolds experienced a stroke and was rushed to the hospital where she died just a few hours later, one day after her 60-year-old daughter Carrie Fisher died of complications from a heart attack on Tuesday.
Following Reynold’s death, her son, Todd Fisher, told TMZ that his mother's last words were, “I miss her so much, I want to be with Carrie."
Reynolds was born in El Paso, Texas and moved to California at 16-years-old. She soon became a beauty pageant queen in Burbank where she caught the eye of Warner Bros executives.
She made one film, The Daughter of Rosie O’Grady, with Warner before signing a deal with the most powerful production house at the time, MGM. She then rocketed toward fame in the 50s, starring in Two Weeks in Love and Three Little Words . At just 19-years-old she landed her breakout role in 1952’s Singin’ in the Rain .
In 1959, she famously divorced Eddie Fisher, Carrie’s father, after learning of his affair with Elizabeth Taylor. She would eventually marry twice more in 1960 and 1984.
In an interview last month with NPR, Carrie Fisher spoke of her relationship with her mother. "She's an immensely powerful woman,” she said, “and I just admire my mother very much.”
